This is the only way to achieve the EU’s self-imposed goal of becoming a global leader in trustworthy AI. “The AI Act places requirements on companies in various areas that duplicate or even contradict existing requirements such as those in the Medical Devices and Machinery Directives. If we want companies in Europe and Germany to continue developing and using AI, we need to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and ensure consistency with existing legislation when implementing the AI Act,” says Dehmel. “The AI Act and its implementation will determine whether European companies and start-ups have the opportunity to keep pace with the global innovation drivers of AI or even to take the lead in this era-defining technology.”
Bitkom has supported the fundamental goal of the AI Act since the start of negotiations in April 2021, namely to strengthen trust in AI and thus promote the use of AI. On the one hand, this includes the original basic concept of the risk-based approach with a narrow and clearly defined high-risk area. On the other hand, the digital economy has also supported the successful model of the so-called “New Legislative Framework”, in which the legislator defines protection goals and the economy implements these in concrete terms via standards. However, the current compromise on the AI Act does not adequately solve both tasks. For example, it deviates from the risk-based approach with rigid and far-reaching requirements for so-called “general purpose AI models” without necessity. In addition, the advantages of the flexibility of mandatory regulated self-regulation were not sufficiently utilized and, at the same time, the ability to connect to international self-regulation approaches such as the G7 AI Code of Conduct was missed.
Bitkom expressly warns against different interpretations of the AI Act within the EU. This would present start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular with almost insurmountable problems if they had to align their offers with 27 different AI regulations. “The AI Act must not become an AI brake. Under no circumstances should Germany push the possibilities for market intervention to the limits of what is permissible, as we had to experience with the GDPR. This would force companies into a regulatory corset that would nip innovation in the bud,” says Dehmel. The measures to support start-ups and SMEs envisaged by the German government to date would have to be significantly expanded in view of the expected high level of effort required to meet the requirements for high-risk AI systems, for example.
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Further links
👉 www.bitkom.org
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